Questions tagged [crewed-spaceflight]

Crewed spaceflight (also referred to as human spaceflight or manned spaceflight) is space travel with a crew aboard the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is crewed, it can be operated directly, as opposed to being remotely operated or autonomous.

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4 answers
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What is the largest number of humans in space at the same time and what vessels were they on when it happened?

What is the largest number of human beings in space at the same time, and what vessels were they on when it happened?
33 votes
1 answer
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How do manned spacecraft achieve an airtight connection while docking?

By another question I was reminded how hard it is to build airtight equipment such as vacuum chambers from multiple pieces. Docking or berthing space ships / space station modules is a rather similar ...
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15 votes
3 answers
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Gravity assist for manned travel

Since we already use gravity assist to launch satellites through the solar system, is there any way we can use gravity assist to speed up a manned trip to a planet such as Titan or Europa, while also ...
12 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the most sustainable method of recycling (human) solid waste on a manned space vessel?

After reading and answering James Jenkins's interesting question on wiping in space, I was curious about the usage of solid waste on a manned space vessel. In his question he mentions recycling solids ...
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12 votes
2 answers
440 views

Near-future consumer space travel

Is there any evidence to support the likelihood of widespread consumer space travel in, say, the next 20 years? I attempted to do some research on commercial space travel, and came across Virgin ...
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14 votes
1 answer
503 views

What is the United States' current plan to get back to launching people into space?

It has now been two years since the last Space Shuttle mission ended (July 21, 2011). Since then, the United States has not had its own capability to launch astronauts into space. To my knowledge ...
10 votes
1 answer
309 views

How can we determine the optimal destination for a manned mission beyond our solar system?

The 100YSS mission currently includes a discussion about Alpha Centauri (our closest star) as a potential target destination, but is it really the best candidate for the 100YSS? To narrow the ...
24 votes
2 answers
2k views

Does space flight have any positive effects on the human body?

It is well known that there are a number of negative health issues (loss of bone density, muscle mass, (eyesight degeneration1, etc.) that can impair astronauts who spend long periods of time in space....
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9 votes
1 answer
384 views

How to design a spacecraft to cope with redshift?

Redshift occurs whenever an observer moves away from (shifted to the red) or approaches (shifted to the blue; blueshift) an object that emits radiation and the other way around. Traveling towards ...
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8 votes
1 answer
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Is there research on optimal control/command strategy/hierachy?

On manned-missions which take its participants further and further into space it will be quite difficult to have a control center on Earth as it takes longer an longer to communicate. It takes the ...
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12 votes
2 answers
588 views

Is there any research or recommendations for a diet in microgravity?

The Dietary Reference Intake (aka RDA) is formulated for humans operating at one Earth gravity. Is there a similar reference or any research supporting specific recommendations for a human in ...
14 votes
1 answer
519 views

Is there research for the optimal small crew size for a long space voyage?

There are many factors in planning a long space voyage. The human interaction being one of them. Group dynamics have been studied in detail for naval and other military applications, the stations on ...
25 votes
5 answers
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What materials provide the best protection from cosmic radiation?

For long-distance manned missions, such as a mission to Mars, we are inevitably going to have to shield astronauts from cosmic radiation, especially in the event of a solar flare or SEP. What ...
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17 votes
3 answers
371 views

Are there any existing technologies, or research, that investigate the sustainable production of food for manned exploration trips?

With NASA planning to eventually get people to Mars, and with privately funded attempts such as Mars-One planning to do the same, and relatively soon, there is the issue of having to feed anyone you ...
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18 votes
3 answers
1k views

Is artificial gravity feasible in manned long-term space exploration?

We know that it is possible for humans to stay physically in shape during long term space missions (see for example Valeri Polyakov who stayed on Mir for more than 14 months for one trip). However, ...
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9 votes
1 answer
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Have Mercury/Gemini/Apollo produced any unmanned descendants?

It is well known that Russian manned spacecrafts gave birth to multiple unmanned satellite projects (such as Bion spacecrafts, for example). Have Mercury/Gemini/Apollo spacecrafts or their direct ...
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12 votes
1 answer
729 views

What engineering challenges would be posed by a manned mission to Ceres?

I have read a lot of literature concerning manned missions to the Moon, Mars, and the Jovian moons. Something I have not heard much about, despite it's relative distance and interesting composition, ...
13 votes
2 answers
25k views

"Failure is not an option" is really a quote of flight director Gene Kranz?

"Failure is not an option" is attributed to Gene Kranz, flight director of Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. In the movie Apollo 13, Ed Harris says it but IMDB trivia states that it was not ...
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14 votes
3 answers
6k views

What advantages do manned missions have over robot missions? [closed]

With robots that can run for years on nuclear batteries, and in some cases even perform basic repairs to themselves, they seem like pretty capable instruments for space exploration. Aside from the ...
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28 votes
4 answers
3k views

What will be NASA's successor to the Saturn V rocket?

The Saturn V rockets were the "tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status and still holds the record for heaviest payload launched and heaviest payload capacity to ...
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